


Exposed

by TerryMcKay



Category: Bodyguard (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Julia is alive, POV changing, painful at first and tough at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-10-05 15:58:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17328074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerryMcKay/pseuds/TerryMcKay
Summary: In Germany there is this massive cyber attack, where hundreds (probably, not sure you have to look it up) of private chats, phone numbers and whatnot of politicians were hacked and leaked online. So, when I heard that, I had the idea, that this could be a way how David and Julia's relationship might have been exposed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of obsessed over this story and wrote it in one day. I hope it doesn´t show. But I know I won´t have time to finish it tomorrow. The ending is a bit mushy imo but after writing almost 2300 words, I figured I needed to find an ending at some point. It is a one-shot after all. Also, excuse all mistakes that might be in there. It's been a long day.

 

>  
> 
> **_Politicians targeted in mass data attack._ **
> 
> _Dozens of Members of Parliament have had personal details stolen and published online. Contacts, private chats and pictures were put online that belong to members of the Conservative Party. It is unclear who is behind the attack. A possible motive could be the upcoming elections for Prime Minister. Downing Street spokesman released a statement saying they will comment on the matter later this morning._

Julia still sat frozen in the back seat of her car that was just about to drive up to the Home Office. Her phone had been blowing up ever since she had awoken merely an hour earlier.  
She had still been in bed when she had been rudely awoken by incoming calls and text messages. They all had been just as clueless as she was and quite panicky on top. They all had expected her to know all the answers. At first, she didn’t have any clue about what was going on. She hadn’t been briefed on anything. So, she had checked the news on her phone. Her head had started spinning. She didn’t learn more than “Cyber attack on MPs. More information to come”. She immediately had called for an emergency meeting, while running towards the bathroom to get ready. David had been sitting up groggily and was about to ask what was going on when he himself had gotten the news that he should be ready for duty in 30 minutes. David had grabbed yesterday’s suit, that had been scattered in Julia’s bedroom. He would change clothes at work if he had an opportunity to. There was no way he had time to leave her apartment unnoticed, go home and then go to work from there. So, he hailed for a taxi and ran down the street to meet it. Julia had frantically tried to change, knowing that her car would be here in 20 minutes. She would never be able to make herself look presentable in 20 minutes and she would have to address the press later.

  
It was now 5 am and everything seemed to be turned upside down. Why on earth had she found out through the media? Why had nobody alerted her? How long had the perpetrators been leaking private information online? Who exactly had been a target? Had she been a target? That thought made her blood run cold. She didn’t dare think about that. The possible impact of such an invasion of her privacy could be more than just a bump in the road. Before she could go down that spiral and propel herself into a panic attack, she focused on what she knew. She had to fix this. That didn’t change the fact that she was outraged. When David had opened the door, she practically stormed towards the lifts. As soon as the metal doors had closed around David and her, he took the chance to find out, what this all was about.

  
“What exactly happened?” he asked, eyes focused on the door in front of them.

  
“There has been a leak. Private accounts have been hacked and all sorts of information are floating around on the internet,” she offered as a reply, managing to keep her voice even.

  
“Yours too?” he asked, now eyeing her, his accent slightly thicker than usual, indicating his increased concern. They both knew what this would possibly mean. Of course, she was still Lavender in his phone, but he was David in hers and it would be her phone that had been hacked, not his. They also knew that there were private chats and pictures that could incriminate both of them and make their lives very difficult.

  
She looked at him. She could read the same fear in his eyes, she was trying to ignore and was still trying to keep at bay. He could see that she was just as anxious. And that didn’t put him at ease and make it easier to solely have his focus on the work ahead when his whole life and possibly his relationship to her was in jeopardy.  
“I don’t know,” came her reply, barely above a whisper, looking at him uncertainly. Before she could say anything more, the lift came to a halt and announced that they had arrived at their destined floor. She left David behind, eyes ahead and marched determinedly towards the conference room. Mike Travis was almost running to meet her. Panic clearly written all over his face.  
“Home Secretary, I - “ but before he could finish, Julia cut him short, with a look so cold and enraged, he almost took a step back.  
“Why haven’t I been informed? Are you to tell me that nobody knew about this cyber attack until this morning and instead of briefing me early on, I have to find out through the media?” Her voice had become dangerous.

  
“Home Secretary, we had no prior knowledge of this up until this morning.”

  
“Well, then you clearly haven’t done your job correctly, otherwise you wouldn’t have failed to detect such an attack.”

  
“Home Secretary, there is - “

  
“Mike, I do not have the time to stand around and listen to your feeble excuses for not doing your job. I am late for a meeting.”

  
With that, she strode past him towards the conference room where members of the Home Office and the NCSC alike where already waiting for her. Some of them looked insecure, others were talking intently and some had put on a stoic face as if they were waiting for doomsday to arrive. Technically, Mike Travis did belong here as well, but she was beyond caring at the moment. The talk instantly died down when she entered the room and sat down.

  
“So far, I am afraid, we still know very little about the perpetrator. We know he put the information of more than 50 of our MPs online. For how long this has been going on, we are uncertain as of yet. Information includes private chats, phone numbers, email addresses and personal pictures. We are still conducting a list of all people affected in this mass data attack and will inform them ASAP,” Mike Travis finished looking at the head of NCSC to confirm what he just said.

  
“Actually - “, Martin Levy, NCSC’s CEO objected, “actually, we have known for a couple of weeks, and didn’t think to alert anyone as we tried to find the culprit ourselves.”

  
“Excuse me? What do you mean you’ve known for a couple of weeks and you didn’t think to include the Home Office? You have no jurisdiction to make such decisions!” Julia couldn’t believe her ears. This was getting better and better. If the leak had been for that long, it was more than likely that nearly every MPs privacy was invaded. She would have loved to just get up and leave them all on their own to solve this problem, but as it seemed she was the only person who was thinking straight and whose head was still screwed to her shoulders. And it would be all on her. All of their failures she would have to justify to the public.

“We are working on it, Ma’am and we have a lead as to who actually hacked all the MPs. It’s someone from Bradford. We are working closely with the police as to arrest the man in question.” NCSC’s CEO informed her.

  
“That still doesn’t change the fact that private information has been floating around the internet  _for weeks_ for everyone to see. How could you be so careless and not inform us,” Julia barked, not really caring about the possible arrest of the culprit. Her look had turned icy. Martin Levy didn’t meet her icy glare but opted to look at Mike Travis who had now taken out a folder full of documents.

  
“Home Secretary, if I may interrupt. There is something else you should know.”

  
There it was, Davud and her executioner’s axe. She took a deep breath as if to brace herself and turned to look at Mike. His voice had become somewhat cautious, unwilling to continue.

  
“Among people targeted, you are one of them. Compromising material that includes you and Sergeant David Budd has not only been released but has also made a good copy for the press. We’ve had numerous requests regarding a statement. Among the pictures and chats released were these.” He slipped the folder over to her. Every pair of eyes in the room was on her. She didn’t dare look up, but took the folder, hands trembling slightly.

  
“Shit,” she muttered under her breath.

  
Julia’s head was spinning, she felt her face grow hot when she opened the folder. She knew exactly which pictures they had been talking about. Seeing them printed out, knowing, that most probably every one of the room, if not everyone in the country has had access to them, made her feel sick to the stomach. Those pictures were like an early Christmas present for every tabloid in the country. She knew why she hadn’t wanted to think about this. It was as if a sledgehammer had come down on David and her, not only trying to turn their relationship into something it wasn’t, but also making David look like a toy boy. She always knew this could happen, but she had hoped they might be able to go through this unscathed. Maybe she would be able to still run for #10, even if her chances at the moment were close to zero. She had to come up with a solution. She just had to. Julia looked up, at last, looking over the people in the room whose eyes were gleaming with curiosity. She closed the folder firmly shut, her hands securely on it as if it made the pictures stay where they were. She had no focus and was unable to make one rational decision.  
“Thank you,” she finally said, “I think that will be all and alert the other MPs affected as early as you can. That’s the least you can do after you have failed on such a grand scale.” She had somewhat tried to compose herself and sounded almost normal.

  
She stood up and left. The only thing she wanted to do was go to the bathroom and lock herself in a cubicle, shut herself off from everything and everyone, to have a clear mind once again. And she wanted to see David, talk to him. But when she passed the hall on her way to the office, he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Sergeant Fenton had taken his place.  
“Fuck,” she murmured to herself while closing the door of her office behind her. She checked her phone again. There was a missed call from David. She couldn’t call him back just yet, even if it was the only thing she wanted to do. The first thing she had to do was damage control and that meant changing her phone number and calling her attorney as to launch legal proceedings to prevent further use of the images and for breach of privacy in the first place. On top of that, she had to prepare a statement for the public when it came to the cyber attack in general. She also needed an appointment with the PM and then she needed another statement that concerned her relationship with David. That and another million things, she now had to prioritise anew.  
She didn’t even want to check the news, but just to confirm how far the news of her and David had spread already, she hit Google. And there the headlines were - as expected. They went from _“Home Secretary’s Sex Romp with Buff PPO”_ , to “ _The Home Secretary’s Secret Sex Files”_ and ended in _“Home Secretary and PPO’s Pillow Talk”_. She was speechless. It was worse than she could have ever imagined. It was as if their nightmares had turned into reality. It was one of those rare moments where she felt, she was completely disassociating herself from her body. It was almost as if she was underwater and didn’t register a single thing that happened around her. The only thing she saw; were those headlines. She clicked the first one that seemed the worst one of all:

>    
>  **_Home Secretary’s Sex Romp with Buff PPO_ **
> 
> _The latest mass data scandal has unearthed some interesting details of our current Home Secretary, Julia Montague, 41. The leaked pictures show her in pictures that leave little to the imagination. She seems to be having a lot of fun with her married toy boy, Personal Protection Officer, David Budd, 32..._

 

She stopped reading and looked at the picture that had seemed so innocent at the time. She and David had spent time away from London on one weekend, being more incognito than she could possibly have been in London. He had shown her the village he had grown up, they had spent the night in the local pub and had a lot of fun afterwards and were foolish enough, as she now thought, to take pictures. It was nothing explicit as she thought, but they were enough to know exactly what they were up to and how close they were. She closed her browser feeling completely numb. A vibration brought her out of her reverie and back to reality. It was David.

“I have been suspended pending investigation because of our relationship. Tom will take over as your PPO,” she heard him say, his voice sounding distant and with a slight tremor in it.

  
“I am so sorry David. I - “, but she didn’t know what to say. The news was out and definitely not in a way either of them would have liked. There was too much to consider. Their relationship, their careers, his family. 

  
“You did nothing wrong. You don’t have to be sorry. We both knew this might happen. It’s going to be fine - eventually” That was one thing she loved about him. He always managed to keep a clear head.

  
She couldn’t help but chuckle at this. “Eventually… yeah. At least we don’t have to hide anything anymore, I guess.”

  
“You will get through this. We will get through this. “

She knew they would get through it, but she didn’t see any way to get past this without pain. She had been afraid that he might take a step back, distance himself from her, to protect his family and his career. Yet, there he was, saying that he would be standing by her side and they would get through this together. And at the other end of the line was Julia, sitting in her office, surrounded by glass walls, talking to David, fighting back the tear that had found its way into her eye. And somehow she didn’t care.

“I love you,” she replied after a moment of silence. She held her breath, not knowing if this was a step too far and too soon.

“I love you, too." The tear that had threatened to spill, now ran down her cheek before she could catch it and pull herself together. She was the Home Secretary after all. They would get through this together.

 


	2. Behind the Scenes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The scandal continues and this is how I thought the next step of dealing with Julia and David's relationship could look like. How would the party react, would they try and force her to resign?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the great comments. They are highly appreciated. A lot of you wondered how the story would continue. It took me a while to actually write this, but there we go. I hope it's not too bad.

The next two days turned into hell on earth. Despite her lawsuit to prevent the press from publishing the leaked pictures and chats, the news seemed to have travelled like wildfire. Her lawyer had been quick enough to shut down any further publication of the material, but that didn't stop people from talking about it. Everywhere she looked, it seemed to her as if there was nothing more important than her love life. Every TV channel, website and newspaper had spread the news. Julia had never felt so infuriated. Not even when she and Roger got a divorce and he had tried to turn it into a mudslinging contest, just to prove his manhood and his superiority. Or so she assumed. And now that very same man kept on trying to call her and make her phone ring as if he tried to ring in the New Year. She had ignored and declined every single call. Not even when he had tried to contact her via her assistant. But it wasn't just him. The PM and Roger seemed to be cast in the same mould. Shortly after the news had broken and she had made a public statement about the cyber attack, he had promised to back her, “no matter what”. Now, however, that didn’t seem to be the case any more. It was a misogynistic world after all. She wasn’t sure if he had gotten cold feet because she once again seemed to have gotten more attention than with whatever he did or if Roger or even Rob McDonald had had a hand in it.

  
It was day two when she had finally been summoned by the PM to meet him and other members of the cabinet. So, she was now sitting in her ministerial car on her way to Downing Street, practically seething with fury. She kept clenching and unclenching her fists while looking out of the window. She knew exactly how this meeting was going to go. They would end up making her the scapegoat for what had happened, how or why was beyond her, but she was sure they would come up with some fallacious explanation. Then they would proceed to question her moral standards and her image as an upstanding member of the government – they might even omit the fact that she was a woman – but they certainly would think so. Nowadays men were not at all sexist any more. We weren't in the 80s after all, she thought sarcastically. She really had to try and occupy her mind before she'd think herself into a tantrum. She took out her phone, ignored the dozens of 'missed' calls from her ex-husband and decided to call David, the only sane person in this circus, besides her. Even her mother had tried to lecture her. Upon threatening not to talk to her in the foreseeable future, she had given in and had stopped, not without one last jab, however, which made Julia end the conversation.

“I need you to distract me. Otherwise, I might just commit murder. Then they really have something to talk about,” she grumbled, no sooner than David had picked up his phone. She saw Tom glancing into the front mirror, but he quickly averted his look, when she glowered at him as if daring him to listen in to the conversation.  
“I don't know if I can be much of help here, I'm afraid. My ears are still ringing from the tirade my mother and Vicky gave me. And my dad kept shouting angrily in the background. The news even got as far as distant Elderslie. At least Ella and Charlie are oblivious to everything,” he offered as a distraction.  
“Your wife? Whatever for? According to the media, she is the victim in all of this,” Julia scowled and tried not to bite.

  
“Aye. Apparently, parents came up to her, asking her when she picked up the kids.”  
“This is absurd, I -,” but the moment she wanted to continue, Tom Fenton interrupted her, indicating that they were about to arrive. “I have to go. Speak later?”  
“Aye, I might come around tonight, that is if you haven't been arrested for murdering someone,” he attempted a joke to brighten up her mood just a bit. The ghost of a smile appeared on her face. “Alright... I'll see you later.” With that, she put her phone back into her coat pocket.  
Naturally, the press was waiting outside number 10. Usually, it didn't bother her. It was part of the job description. But today the constant yells to get her attention by using her first name, aggravated her. She threw a quick glare over her shoulder and then briskly walked toward the door, hands tightening around the handle of her red briefcase.

  
The minute the door closed behind her, Roger marched towards her, his face more resembling a grimace than anything else. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You and that monkey? That's it for you.” At least he was not only vicious (which was normal) but at last he had been honest, too, not the conniving snake he usually was.  
“You honestly need to fuck off,” her voice had dropped an octave and had become even more dangerous before she swooped past him and entered the conference room. The PM was angry and that was an understatement. Julia didn't care. The audacity to actually call for a meeting to discuss something a hacker had leaked and use it to actually try and get her off the radar was unbelievable.  
As soon as she had sat down, every look was on her. Her direct stare was just as much if not more hostile towards the men who looked at her, some more openly accusatory, some less. Her muscles tensed. They were treading on thin ice.

  
“I think you all know why I asked you to come here today. We have a big issue at hand, which needs to be dealt with,” the PM began, “this scandal is more than just a little inconvenient.”

  
“For some more than for others,” Roger muttered under his breath. This didn't go unnoticed by Julia, however, who turned to look at him and without missing a beat she snapped, “I would advise you to stop talking right this instant and don't open your mouth for the remainder of the meeting unless you want it to get really embarrassing for you.” Roger's dumb facial expression showed that he hadn't expected her retort and closed his mouth. Everyone else in the room seemed to back off just a little. Nobody had expected her to enter the lion's den as the lioness, ready to fight. They all had thought she would be the little mouse in the story, the weak one who would cling onto the PM for advice. Men were so easy to play with, she mused. How was it possible that they still underestimated her?  
“I would have liked to bring up this issue in a more delicate way than Mr Penhaligon just did, but this unfortunate leak, brought up some, how should I say, enlightening news. And these might prove unprofessional, for lack of a better term, not just for you, Home Secretary. This might shine a bad light on the government altogether,” the PM disclosed. It was obvious to Julia that he only played coy. There was nothing coy about him. Both of them knew that. Her steely look was transfixed on him. He was angry, she gave him that, but he had just struck a cord. That was his downfall.

  
“You call me unprofessional? You call it unprofessional when I take some innocent pictures on my phone in my _private_ time and someone else hacks and decides to spread them? Well, then I am curious what the members of the cabinet would call your... escapades, for lack of a better term. Or the press even. Don't you dare start on me like that, Prime Minister. Breach of privacy and what you did, are two entirely different things. And I just wonder who of us would come out of this unscathed if the media knew about your antics. So, I would be very careful if I were you.” Julia's rage flowed through her like lava. She knew why she had been so furious for being summoned by some incompetent imbecile who claimed to have some power over her because he was still the PM. This lame excuse for a request to make her resign from her post as Home Secretary just to save his sorry neck had been so abundantly obvious, it was laughable. That is if Julia weren't so furious at everyone to question or moral standards just for falling in love. They all treated her as if she had murdered someone, especially all the men of the cabinet, with their double-standards. None of them had a right to accuse her of having done anything wrong.

  
“Julia, I am not sure at what you are hinting at, but I am sure the Prime Minister just wants the best for you, for the government and for the future of our country,” the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs began before he was harshly interrupted by Julia, whose tone had become even icier if that was even possible.  
“Oh, I know exactly what the PM wants. At this point, however, I don´t know if he actually knows what is best for this country if he thinks some pictures that are now banned from being published are a threat to the future of our nation. And I can enlighten you and tell you exactly, what I am hinting at. Wouldn't you agree, Prime Minister?” she quickly stared at the Prime Minister who had begun squirming in his seat. He did a good job at not showing it. Meanwhile, Julia continued: “I am honestly so sick of all of you, trying to turn me into a scapegoat. If you think, I don't have dirt on all of you, then you are sadly mistaken. And don't think I won't use it against each and anyone of you if you decide to make me resign for something as trivial as me having much more fun than either of you probably had in years. And at least I didn't fuck a pig,” It had become extremely still in the room. Nobody dared to breathe. You could have a pin drop. Everyone knew what she was playing at.

  
Julia was raging with fury. If any of them expected mercy or her to care what would happen to them after they had turned their backs on her and she had gotten even with them, they didn't know her at all. She willed herself to stay calm and not to shout. It was difficult. She had to focus all of her energy on controlling her rage of all those men. If the country knew only a quarter of what she knew, they would actually lose confidence in the government altogether. The way the media treated her for falling in love with her PPO would be nothing in comparison on what a feast this would be for every journalist in the country if they knew their dirty little secrets.

  
“So, if this is all on today's agenda, I'd actually prefer to go back to work and be productive,” she remarked, letting her ruthless glower roam around to room. They all looked shell-shocked, some even intimated she noted, a little satisfied. Finally, her look landed on the PM, who refused to meet her glare, but cleared his throat nervously and finally mumbled that the meeting was over and everyone could go back to their business.

  
Julia got up briskly and left the room without a look back. “Lavender on the move,” she barely registered Sergeant Fenton saying, while she left number 10 and braced herself to keep a straight face for the journalists waiting outside. The sooner everything was back to business, the better. And the sooner this whole scandal could blow over. She still couldn't believe the PM had thought it a good idea to make her resign. When she had finally made it to the car and had sat down in the back-seat of the car in and took out her phone. She felt her anger abate the second she saw David had texted her.

  
_“Dress up tonight, I have a surprise for you. We're going out tonight. I'll pick you up at 8.”_ was the whole content of the message. Well, that could either be a success or a complete disaster with everything going on at the moment. But with him, it would be fine. She would fight the whole nation for David if she had, too and she had a pretty good guess he would do the same.


	3. Fighting for No. 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few weeks if not months have passed since Julia's outburst in the conference room at no. 10. She is now fighting to become PM herself with an obstacle or two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extremely late and long overdue. I am very sorry for the delay. At some point I thought of abandoning the story because I simply didn't know how to continue. Now I think I found a way. I hope you like it.

It was the crack of dawn. Julia wasn't sure how long she had been lying awake in the bed of her hotel room in Halifax. It was still dark outside but she could see that morning was on its way. She was even able to hear a single bird outside chirping. She made no attempt on moving, there was still time and the bed had the perfect temperature. The only thing she missed was David sleeping next to her. She missed being able and hear his light snoring and to just snuggle up to him and use him as an extra source of comfort. Instead, she was stuck on her campaign trail in Yorkshire.

 

To Julia, the past few months that led up to her being able to throw in her hat for PM and ultimately to go on this campaign trail was associated with so much struggle and opposition towards anyone and everyone that she sometimes wondered if it was all worth it. Ever since the day she had been forced to release a statement about her relationship to David - a distant memory at this point, a nightmare almost - her life had been open for public discussion and ridicule. It was almost like a roller coaster. But one that had mainly one direction, downwards. And only now was she able to change the course of its direction into a steady, albeit slow ascend. She had been in a constant battle for her future as an esteemed member of Parliament and as the new Prime Minister as well as for her future with David.

 

All those months since she had first felt that her drive hadn't been determination and the willpower to change the country for the better, a fury had settled inside her instead. A fury that had flown through her veins like lava had eventually pushed her to move on, to fight all of her colleagues that withheld their support and doomed her career. It had almost been a new purpose. She had had to fight her whole life to be where she was now, or even before as a Home Secretary. Men had always assumed she would settle for less, that she wouldn't destroy them if she had to. This kind of purpose was new though. It wasn't just the fight against double-standards and patriarchal structures. The determination was more in the nature of not only surviving the “scandal”, to prove all of them wrong and to thrive but also to protect her newfound bliss in her private life.

 

Shortly after her scandal and the PM's not-so-subtle attempt to get her out of the way to secure another term, had turned dire. He had been forced to resign. Her threat to expose him in that conference room at no. 10 all those months ago, had him cornered. He obviously hadn't taken her threat seriously. Nevertheless, he had had no idea how far Julia would go when it came to seeking and securing justice. She had anonymously tipped off the media about his gross misconduct. Apparently, he had seemed too naive and power hungry to resign when she had urged him directly. His assumption had probably been that he was out of the firing line when her data had been leaked, she now mused bitterly and turned around to finally check the clock on the bedside table.

 

It was 5.30 am, too early to get up and get ready for the day, but also too early to give David a call. Julia lay on her back and took her phone from the bedside table to check her emails. Only yesterday, she had received a very resentful email from Roger. He was still fuming that she had been the one to oust his favourite PM and had cut off the hand that fed him. She was the reason why he was a lowly MP no less and no Chief Whip any more. She hadn't even bothered to respond to the email. The lawyer inside her had told her to save the email just in case. However, there was nothing she would rather do than to mark all of his emails as spam. Or him for that matter.

 

On top of all the opposition that came from some of her colleagues, she also seemed to be the number one headline of every newspaper and press release. This in itself was irritating enough but could be ignored if it had just been her. She was used to being exposed and be the target of criticism or merely the object of hate. It had never been an issue to her. On the contrary, it was part of her job description. Her job was to find a way to help people, sometimes those people just didn't see what would be good for them in the long run. However, it wasn't just her this time. Now the wheels had turned. What had started as a scandal of her having a romp with her married PPO, with people turning into upholders of moral standards, had quickly turned into a witch-hunt to find out everything about David and his family. Only to have them on the front covers every single day. That was the moment when she again had sued the media on behalf of the Budd family for defamation. In consequence, they were now prohibited from using not only the leaked data, but they were also banned from using his children's names and their faces.

There only had been a slight change in the behaviour of the people and the media when a paparazzi picture turned up that showed Julia and David holding hands after their first outing together. It had been a slow turning point. Comparisons to a certain movie had now turned into curiosity and an increasing interest in the “love against all odds”.

 

Despite her and David's efforts to stay under the radar, to remain discreet and not have another picture in the papers that needed suing or which ended in another wave of mockery or sanctimonious outrage, she always tensed when she opened her emails. More often than not had she received an email either from her lawyer, informing her of this or that or of some journalist who had tried to contact her or her assistant.

This morning, however, there was nothing of the sort. Julia slumped back into her pillow. In fact, there was nothing that required her immediate attention. She was about to put her phone down and drag her exhausted body out of the warm fort of blankets and pillows when her phone started buzzing in her hand. A wash of emotions came over her when she saw who tried to call her.

 

„How's the North treating you?“, she heard David on the other phone stifling a yawn. She sat up in her bed and pulled the blanket further up to protect her from the cold of the room and smiled into her phone.

 

„It's cold and rainy. The people are very critical. Every third person doesn't care about my agenda, but only about us. And I am not only talking about the voters“, she began to rant before she could stop herself.

 

Both knew that the subject was a touchy one when it came to her. Anyone hardly approached David about Julia. He had been mostly cooped up in the office of the police department since the news broke. His colleagues had initially treated him like Typhoid Mary, but came to accept it within time. It would be a stretch to say they were on the same terms with him as they used to be before his relationship with Julia became public. But they were slowly getting there. To some, he was still somewhat of a cheat who had nothing to do in the police service after all he had done. Kim, at least, had been the most accepting colleague of them all. The first thing she had said to him was that she had had an inkling that there was more to it than just the normal Principal/ PPO relationship. That was the extent of the exposure he had to deal with personally since he had banned all kinds of newspapers and social media from his life.

 

Julia, however, was confronted with the effects of that bomb that had dropped, on a daily basis. He wished he could be there for her on the campaign trail but both knew that this was not something either of them would like. It would put him in the spotlight, their relationship and neither of them needed any more attention than they already got

 

„I am sorry, love. It's only three more stops until you're back in London“, he offered as a consolation but quickly noticed from the lack of a response that this was not helpful. „Do you want me to get your mind off things for a bit?“

 

„Yes, please“, she sighed. The last thing she now wanted to talk about was work. She would have enough ultraconservative Tories to convince and assure them that she was still one the perfect choice of a leader for the country and not someone who had lost her moral high-ground because she had had an affair with a married man. She had lost enough votes from her party as it was. She couldn't lose any more. But that was a vexation she would have to deal with later. Now, she just missed having David next to her, to be able to draw random patterns on his chest and talk about everything and nothing, about their respective pasts, his children or the time when she became valedictorian but couldn't go to that horseback riding tournament because she had broken her ankle.

 

„Charlie asked me to tell you that his presentation in general studies on lawyers was very successful“, he continued, not being able to hide the pride and gladness that his son had settled into his new school so effortlessly and for accepting Julia surprisingly well.

 

„Mmm, I am glad“, she replied, the small smile on her face had reappeared. David had randomly told her about the task his son had to tackle and how Charlie wanted to present a special profession, not the usual ones. She had asked if his son was interested in law and if a barrister might be the right profession to present. David had asked Charlie and so Julia had ended up in a phone interview with her lover's son.

 

„How's Ella coping?“, she tentatively asked. She had been with David for a bit now, but when it came to his kids, she didn't want to interfere too much. She knew that Vicky had accepted their relationship but the exposure of the press had made her – quite understandably - a little irritated. Her daughter took rather after her mother and was still wary of Julia being part of David's life.

 

„She is alright. She doesn't talk too much -“

 

„I wonder where she got this from“, Julia interrupted David teasingly.

 

„Aye“, he chuckled, „But she started watching the news and started listening to your speeches on the telly“, he informed her. It was clearly a sign that she slowly but surely seemed to warm up to Julia, even if she did it in her own way. „But don't you dare turn her into one of your lot.“

 

„There is nothing wrong with _'my lot_ '“, she replied, not really wanting to get worked up about their different opinions when it came to politics. They hardly ever did though. He accepted her opinion. He knew it all stemmed from an urge to help. She on the other hand had to admit that his opinion and lifestyle slowly seemed seep into her own thoughts. David sometimes teased her that the Conservative Party would end up with a member of the Labour party as their PM.

 

Julia's gaze fell back on the alarm clock and she groaned. „I have to get ready soon. Rob's being a complete imbecile, as usual. I feel like the only competent person around me is Tahir, who does Rob's work on top of his own.“

 

„Why do you still have that twat on your team?“, he asked genuinely curious. Rob's advances had stopped the minute he had learned of her and David. Instead, he had become rather cold and calculating. „Because it would throw a bad light on me if I just kicked him off my team, mid-campaign albeit. Also, he still has connections to the right people.“

 

„That reminds me“, David suddenly noted, „I am only on desk duty for four more weeks. Then I am back in proper police business again. I talked to my new boss and he seems to think that I have redeemed myself. I won't be a PPO in the near future, however“, he ended bitterly.

 

“Oh, David, that's wonderful news! At least one of us seems to be moving forward“, she exclaimed. She had never voiced it out loud but sometimes she wondered if going for no. 10 had been the right decision. Exhaustion was something she could deal with. But she hardly ever saw David these days. On the plus side, that made it impossible for the press to continue with their Bodyguard references because there was nothing to see or talk about in the first place. But part of her just wanted to be with him and not only talk to him on the phone twice a day and see him only once every few days. But becoming PM had been a goal of hers ever since she became a politician. Also, she was on the finish line, she would not give up now. They had all the time afterwards, she always thought, when the doubts showed their ugly faces. Moving to Downing Street with him was actually something she looked forward to. But before she could continue she heard a rap on the door.

 

„Ms Montague, I am sorry to bother you, but you requested going over today's agenda before we leave.“

 

„Shit“, she muttered more to herself than to David who was still at the other end of the line.

 

„You need to leave“, he answered for her.

 

„Yes, I do. Speak later?“, she asked, whilst getting out of bed and raising her voice to answer Tahir who still waited on the other side of the door. „Thank you, Tahir. I will be ready in 45 minutes.“

 

“Aye. I love you.“

 

„I love you, too“, she mumbled against the speaker of her phone. With that, she threw it back on the bed and went to the bathroom getting ready for another long and tiring day.

 

***

 

David had forewarned her about the north and how it usually tended to be colder up there when she had packed her suitcase. She was glad for it. It was a rather grey and cool day and she would be spending more than just a few minutes outside, shaking hands and talking to the locals. If it weren't for the constant exposure of her private life and the need for the people to continue and ask her about it and about the lack of pictures and information they got, this would be a pleasant task. Some people had interesting views and opinions on things and you could actually talk to them, whilst trying to convince them to vote for you. But after five hours, two speeches and three different locations they had visited in and around Halifax, she was frozen to the core and starving. She knew she should feel bad for how she treated her assistant, but she was beyond caring. Julia had requested to bring her something to eat or simply a warm coffee. Instead of doing just that, her assistant had constantly come up with excuses that this would not be appropriate now or how someone could take an unfortunate picture that would rather make the headline than her actual campaign trail. So, she was now sitting in the back-seat of the car, in a foul mood, desperately trying to get warm and fighting her stomach and stop it from grumbling.

 

When she had finally arrived back at her hotel, there was just enough time for a little supper before she had to repack her things and drive further south again. Sheffield was tonight's destination and they had to be there before nightfall. They were bound to meet the mayor. Afterwards, there would be a short meeting to discuss tomorrow's agenda and only when this was finished, would she be able to go back to her hotel room, finish up her preparations for the next day. By the time she could barely keep her eyes open, would she be able to call David again. They had arranged that she would call him in the evenings since the times she actually had time to talk fluctuated. With a sigh, she had another quick look as not to forget anything. The only two things she really wanted now, were as far out of reach as it was possible: wine and a night with David.

 

Before leaving the room for good, she took out her phone to give him a little heads up and was greeted with a text by him informing her that his final therapy session was over and there was no need to go back to the shrink, as he called her. The longing had begun to spiral through her since this morning only intensified at his text and she quickly let her phone slip back in her pocket to put her mind back at the task at hand. Finally, she made her way to the car waiting downstairs. She almost started counting the hours until she was free of her duties as the Conservatives' candidate for Prime Minister. She barely registered the words „Lavender on the move“ when she had started replying to long overdue emails. She honestly couldn't wait to be back home in London with David.

 

 


	4. Polling Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a lot for all the great feedback. This now is the last chapter of this story. I tried my best to be as accurate as possible when it comes to general elections. I am sure there are some mistakes here and there, but I ask you to forgive me for those. I also hope that I managed to stay true to the characters. Being ooc would be a nightmare.

David woke to Julia shuffling around nervously in the bedroom, pulling out several outfits for the day. In fact, she had been up for two hours, writing and rewriting her speeches, checking if anything still needed to be done. And now she had started doubting her choice of clothes. How could she think that a white suit and a black blouse would be the right choice? She had to wear something blue, the colour of her party. But no matter what she did, every outfit seemed worse than the one she had chosen prior.

„Julia what are you doing? It´s not even 6 am. Come back to bed“, David dropped his phone back on the bedside table and groaned sleepily when he saw his lover staring at the inside of her cupboard whilst holding one suit in her hand. Julia, however, was so immersed in her own thoughts that she didn't deign to look at him. David eventually sat up and looked at her in a mixture of amusement and concern. „Julia!“, he repeated, this time a little louder than before. This seemed to do the trick. Finally, she looked over at him. She tried to put her focus on him, but he could immediately tell that she was miles away.

She willed herself to put her anxiety aside and looked at the man sitting in her bed. It was difficult though. Her mind was like a massive beehive. A thousand different thoughts kept bouncing back and forth in her mind. None of them made any sense. So, David demanding her focus was both a blessing and a curse. He always managed to put her at ease, her calming anchor if you will. But the part of her that drove her directly towards a panic attack didn't really want to listen to him, to waste time on anything but the task at hand.

“What are you doing?”, he probed. He knew she would be on edge and anxious. In fact, he hadn't expected anything else. He also prided himself for being the only one who was allowed to see this version of her, the vulnerable side, the one who now was on the verge of an anxiety attack. He knew the signs. He'd had them often enough himself. So it was even more important for him to alleviate the situation, to help her mind stop from reeling over.

“I have work to do. There are literally a dozen things to do before I can go and meet my team at HQ today. I need - “, but Julia couldn't finish rambling. At that moment David had crawled across the sheets, had grabbed her around her waist and tackled her down on the bed. Julia shrieked in surprise and let the item in her hand fall carelessly on the ground as David wrestled her down on the bed. For a fleeting second his attack had stunned her to a point that she was rendered unable to do anything. David, however, didn't let grass grow under his feet and rolled them over so that he had tacked her underneath him.

“David!”, she finally gasped and tried to loosen his grip in vain. In fact, it had quite the opposite effect of what she had intended. He held onto her wrists just above her head. She gave the last attempt and squirmed before she let out an exasperated sigh. David knew he had won the silent battle.

“What did you say?”, he repeated and couldn't hide his triumphant smirk.

The thoughts that had clouded her mind just a minute earlier, had completely evaded her. She knew she could never win when he was on top of her and if she was completely honest with herself, she didn't mind at all. His smell already clouded her senses, which was dangerous in itself. A tiny voice in the back of her head, however, told her she couldn't lose control now. She needed to focus on the target. That was work and winning the election after all. So, she made yet another feeble attempt and responded meekly “I need to do …. do things... work”. She lost her train of thought mid-sentence, however. David had started nibbling her earlobe and then moved his attention to her pulse point and began sucking it. Julia elicited a moan, her hands now slack underneath his grip.  
“What you need”, he disclosed as he then continued to kiss the hollow of her throat, and she sucked in a breath, “is to relax. You need to stop wrecking your pretty little head.” Julia's breath quickened. “But - “, she mewled while simultaneously seeking his mouth. Her passion for him had nearly won over. Merely her mind still made some futile attempts on reminding her what day it was and that there were other things she should be doing. What those things were, she had forgotten altogether. The only thing she could think of at the moment was David, his smell and the feeling of having his lips on hers, of biting his lip and of having his mouth all over her. Unbeknownst to her, this was his plan exactly.

“I will make you relax”, he murmured against her lips, gave her one last kiss and finally removed the grip off her wrists. She took no time and tried to shimmy out of her nightgown. David simply marvelled at her. Sometimes he still couldn't believe that she was with him. She was the most stunning creature he had ever seen or met. But before he could continue staring at her, she had removed the remainder of her clothes and didn't lose time in wanting to remove his black boxers. He avoided her grip and shook his head slightly when she looked at him confused. The indication of a head shake only increased her bewilderment.

“I want you to relax”, he only said and then moved down her body, sucking and biting his way downward. It dawned on her the minute he had uttered the words what his intentions were, and the anticipation stopped her from breathing momentarily. Her stomach contracted when he finally settled between her legs, her whimpers and moans filled the air. The louder she moaned the more he let his tongue roam over and inside her until she finally bucked hard against his face, unable to hold back any longer. She shuddered almost violently and let the wave of hot white light wash over her. When David finally looked up at her, he saw that she still had her eyes closed and tried to regain her breath. To him, she looked like an absolute goddess.

“Better?”, he asked and hovered over her. Nobody had ever made her feel as cherished as he did. At that moment Julia knew that no matter what would happen tonight, there was no need to worry about her future. It was their choice how the future would look like and as long as she had him, she didn't need more. But she couldn't put all that into words, so instead, she let out a lazy “Mmm”.

***

Three hours later she was in the back of her car driving to Thames West to cast her vote. She eventually had gone with the blue suit and the white shirt. It remembered her of the time when David had given her his shirt. It was like an additional safety boost for her since he couldn't be with her just yet. She wasn't the only one busy at a general election. Police officers were just as busy keeping the rest of the city safe. Since David had been placed back into “active” duty, as he called it, his responsibilities had increased quite a bit. He was on his way to becoming Detective Inspector on top of it all.  
As much as she loved having him around, she knew she was safe with her PPO and the rest of the staff. Besides that, she knew she would be busy. There wouldn't be much for him to do. The media's focus would be mostly on them again and not on her as a candidate either. There would be enough news coverage tonight. She didn't even dare think about the articles tomorrow morning when he would be standing by her side. Banning this part of the election of her mind, she immediately landed on another one. That one was infinitely worse. Tonight it wouldn't be just her team at her HQ, it would also be friends and her mother would be there. It was ridiculous to feel as nervous about this as she did. It was almost as if she was a teenager again. Her mother was a woman of strict rules and quite conservative moral standards. She was the chairwoman of innumerable charities and had a circle of friends and acquaintances that might nearly be compared to one of a royal. She too had learned about her daughter's affair from the news and had given her an earful. Julia still sullenly remembered how she ended the call mid-sentence and stopped her mother from telling her for the umpteenth time how great she and Roger had been together. As a consequence, she hadn't bothered telling her mother more than was absolutely necessary and stayed in cool terms with her. Even with the sparse information her mother had, Julia knew David would have a hard time with her, and she would too, for that matter. It was almost a clash of different worlds tonight. The elitist mother and the Labour-voting police officer who had disliked people with her mindset all his life. Another thing her mother also knew, was that she was not entitled to an opinion. Yet, she expected the worst when those two met tonight. Banning her mother from her mind, also, her thoughts quickly lingered on this morning and she had to bite back a smile. If any of them only had an inkling of what she and David were always up to, they might rethink their decision of making her the Tories' candidate for PM.

When they finally arrived at the polling station, masses of journalists and photographers had assembled already and were waiting for her arrival. Judging from the amount of them, she must have pretty good chances and the opinion polls might be correct. Tom Fenton had barely opened her door after his announcement of “Lavender has arrived”, when she heard the calls and shouts of her name, trying to get her attention. There was no time for a statement or for questions now, so she waved and smiled once she got out of the car and made her way inside. A few selected journalists were assembled there and all of them were situated in a way to get the best shot of her casting her ballot into the ballot box. Before she did that, however, she did something some of the men and women of the press had apparently not expected. She went to all of the men and women who had given their time to help that day and talked to them briefly, thanking them for their effort and time. She saw no reason not to. Without those people, an election would be significantly more difficult. Being with David had emphasised this for her even more. The part of her behaviour that seemed to throw the journalists off completely, because they simply hadn't expected it apparently, was when she went to them and shook their hands. Again she thanked them politely with a smile, because again without all their news coverage, where would she be? But the minute they started asking questions, she gave them polite her RH Julia Montague smile.

“I think the focus should be on the election today, shouldn't it?” They grudgingly accepted her response and took their shots of Julia letting the paper slip into the box.

To Julia, it felt a little surreal that today was the day that would decide about her political future and yet London remained notoriously unimpressed. Or so it seemed to her. Today even more than all the past elections she had gone through. She had always been anxious. It was the same every time. It was like the first time she had prepared herself for a panel discussion at school and had to wait until she could finally go on stage. That tension, the pressure, the unknown and the excitement, all of that was what she felt now, only thousandfold. To calm herself and give her something to do with her hands, the first thing when she arrived at the headquarters was to get a cup of tea.

The hustle and bustle of the employees of her team made the whole department look like a massive anthill. Everyone was busy, people were hurrying around, others were working almost frantically on their computers, while she was in a conference room, adjoined to the hall, where they would spend most of the night. The TV was on as constant background noise at the moment. All the opinion polls were still unchanged. Every poll there was predicted a win for her. Still, she tried to prepare herself for a roller coaster of emotions as best as she could.

The hours till 10 pm seemed to be dragging on. No amount of tea, coffee or work seemed to hasten the time. On the contrary, every time Julia dared to look at the clock, it was as if an hour didn't consist of 60 minutes but 120. For almost that amount of time, she had been tweaking her speeches. She wasn't sure how many times she had attempted to rewrite and to proofread them when she felt her phone buzzing on the desk. She let out a relieved sigh when she answered the phone.

“That bad?”, came David's voice in slight concern. “Worse. I feel like I am stuck in limbo and the time stopped. Besides that, my mother has called twice already and wanted to know when she could arrive.” She knew her mother only wanted to be there for her, which was sweet, she guessed. Another theory was that she wanted to be first, only to be able to mock everyone else who came after her, David included. Also, the constant undercurrent of her mother, wanting to say more than Julia allowed her to, was exhausting.

“Oh God, your mother. I had almost forgotten about her.” David bit back a groan. Anybody else would only have noticed a slight change in his voice. Knowing, however, that he was either sat at his desk or in the canteen, that was a lot for David. She was sure he would stick with his professional facade all night, there was no way he would let anyone see the private David, she went to bed and woke up with, in the morning. Behind that official face, there would be a David who was very anxious. She knew he didn't want to let it on, even to her, but she felt it in the air whenever her mother was mentioned. He tensed and was glad when the topic was off the table again.

“It will be fine”. This time it was her trying to keep him calm. Usually, it was the other way around. He kept her safe, he managed to keep her calm and focused. “Aye”, was all she got out of him as a reply. They would have to wait and see how tonight would pan out. With that, she changed the topic to something lighter and was eternally grateful that he was able to distract her from her stress and anxiety that were raging inside her.

The next few hours passed in a blur. All she could remember by the time the numbers were about to be released was that she had probably never drunk so much coffee in her life and that she was sick of Rob bustling about her all the time, wanting to check this or that once again until at some point she snapped at him so that colleagues and friends around her alike had gone quiet for a second and stared at her and Rob. In any case, she had been on the brink of exploding with nervous energy. He was the culprit who detonated that bomb. So in turn, for the remainder of the time, Rob acted like a beaten puppy and avoided her as much as he could. The others, too, were a little more cautious afterwards. But if she thought her nerves were stretched when she has barked at Rob, she was sadly mistaken.

When it was finally approaching 10 and everyone assembled in front of the screen in the hall, some drinking champagne just to have something in their hands, some eating a sandwich and others had animated conversations. Everyone from her constituency, friends, a few journalists and of course, her mother were there. By the time David finally showed up, she was a nervous wreck. Her mother hadn't exactly helped with all her suggestions and questions either.

He arrived after her mother, which did make her mother frown, as she had expected, but Julia chose to ignore it. All she wanted to do when she saw David was to hold his hand and keep him as close to her as it was possible. At this point of the night, she was sure, she only consisted of coffee and nervous energy. The second she made eye contact with him across the room everyone else seemed to fade away. She gave him the smallest of smiles. As he strode across the room to her, he seemed to take away at least some of the nervous energy she had managed to bottle up. The other people around them eyed the couple curiously, eager to see them together. The journalists were ready to start filming even though the vote count wasn't even close to the point that they were presented with the first estimations. Again, Julia and David's private life seemed to be the only thing that mattered.

He wasn't wearing a blue badge, like everyone else in the room, a sign of support of her party and a sign that they had indeed voted. He was impeccably dressed in a black suit and was matching a blue tie. She knew he was wearing this tie only in support of her night. But she also knew that he hadn't voted for the Tories. When he first told her that, it hadn't sat quite right with her. But in the end, she had accepted it. There was nothing she could and would do about it. She knew he was Labour and she loved how different he was. He had apologized to her for not being able to vote for her party, she knew how much he had been struggling with the choice he eventually made. But she could understand him. It was part of the reason she loved him. He was her support system but at the same time he kept on defying her. The lack of a blue badge didn't go unnoticed by the others either and they were prying. If he noticed, he didn't let anything on. He simply walked up to her and stood beside her. It was almost in the olden days when their relationship hadn't been made public yet and he had still been her PPO. It was a little awkward at first, for both of them she assumed, but he didn't let anything on and she was the image of the perfect politician.

“I'm sorry love, work was absolutely mental”, he murmured once he reached her. She instinctively reached for his hand and brushed it with fingers, before she remembered where they were. This didn't go unnoticed by her mother and some of the others. This naturally sparked the conversations in the room.

“It's fine. You're here now.” she breathed back barely above a whisper so that only he could hear her.

“Mum”, she said a little louder to the woman on her other side who was nursing a glass of champagne, “this is David.” The public setting made it impossible for her mother to be anything but the charming woman she could be. Julia was grateful for it, as she knew this was all just a facade.

“Nice to meet you, Ma'am”, came the rather stiff reply from her partner, who was a little out of his depth. Not at all prepared to meet the in-laws, or at least one of them, just yet.

Before she could enjoy just being in his presence for just a moment longer, get away from the insanity this day had been so far, Rob came scurrying over and informed her with a forced calmness and not without a hostile glance towards David, that the numbers of the votes and the exit poll would be ready for release any minute now and that the cameramen and journalists were getting ready. A nod was all she could muster. Rob continued looking at her as if waiting for further instructions or something more she would say. Julia gave no indication on doing any of that and so all Rob could do was to shuffle away awkwardly.

She let out a sigh and tensed even further if that was at all possible. Despite the excellent polls even by the time, it was past then and despite every news station and election analyst telling her that she would most probably be the winner of tonight's election, she still tried to cover her shaky hands. The constant buzzing in her head and the different thoughts whirling through her mind didn't help either. Would they be correct? They usually were. But she had to prepare for the worst. Did she still know what she wanted to say in case she lost? Would she have to alter the speech once again? One thought chased the other until she felt David's hand on the small of her back, looking at her, waiting for her to look back at him. He gave her a reassuring nod and gently pushed her towards the stage. It was a small gesture and only people who knew Julia would notice the silent conversation between them and would notice how the insecurity in her eyes was covered by a blanket of the cool confidence she usually exuded as a politician.

When she walked towards the stage she could hear an analyst on TV “Now the conservatives are the largest party, but will they also manage to gain the majority of seats tonight?” Would they, she wondered and shared the reporter's sentiment. When she had arrived on stage, she again seemed the epitome of confidence and determination. Nobody noticed the whirlwind of emotions that were coursing through her.

“Ladies and gentlemen the votes are in. Julia Elizabeth Montague received 42,356 votes for the constituency Thames West, which makes her the clear winner of the night.“

It wasn't the final result but it was a big step towards it, she had gained votes compared to the last general election. Julia smiled, somewhat relieved. Cheers boomed through the hall. It was only a matter of time now, she mused. She looked around the hall and she could see David, standing at the side, in his typical PPO pose cheering her on and her mother clapping her hands. She knew that all David would have wanted to do was to whistle, but he held back, knowing how inappropriate it might look. Instead, he clapped harder than anyone else in the room and didn't hide his smile. For a moment she looked at him and smiled, just for him. After a while, the noise died down and she was able to speak.

“Thank you, ladies and gentleman. I am deeply honoured to be able to represent Thames West for yet another term in Parliament. I pledge to help the people of Thames West as best as I possibly can. We need a period of stability and whatever the results will be tonight, the Conservative Party will guarantee that we fulfil our duty in providing that stability and security for each and everyone.”

She had finished her first speech for the night and stepped off the stage. David and her mother had been waiting for her at the end of the stage, alongside friends and members of the party wanted to come up to her and congratulate her. Just then the speaker who had announced the numbers only a few minutes prior was back with another piece of paper.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we just got an estimated number of votes for tonight. So far, the votes lie between 10 and 11 million votes, which would make a total of 50,8%. Compared to the Labour Party who gained an estimated 37.7% of the votes, I can safely say, we have a new prime minister in our midst.”

For a second Julia had frozen to the spot. So many years and so much work had gone into this goal and now she had reached it. It was a little surreal for her to grasp the idea that she had reached it at last. But when the cheers boomed through the hall and Julia finally became aware of them, the first person she looked at was David standing in front of her, beaming at her. Even for her, it was now difficult to keep her emotions under control. She gave David her genuine smile, the one only he ever got to see and shrugged with her shoulders, unable to say anything. He took her hand and held it as tightly as he possibly could, their fingers immediately entwined as they always did.

Around them the noise of cheers and clapping was enormous. People closest to her asked her to go on stage, some had even started chanting to encourage her to finally go up there and deliver the best speech of her career. But against everyone's expectations, that´s not what she did. Instead, she let go of David's hand and grabbed his neck and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. She poured all her emotions, all the gratitude she had towards him for always being there for her and all her love into this kiss. She barely registered the people standing around them, when David reciprocated the kiss after an initial shock at her boldness. Everything would be fine. She would move to Downing Street. David would be by her side. They really had come out on the other side.

_The End_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick FYI: The speech she gives at the end is actually paraphrased and a combination of two speeches, one of Jeremy Corbyn and the other of Theresa May during the general election 2017. You can find them on YouTube (video: "General Election 2017: How the night unfolded")


End file.
